Configuring Voyager to Use a Cached Base Map

Voyager uses a Web map service from Esri or Google as its default base map. However, users with no access to the public internet or those who wish to use their own Web map service can easily create and use an offline cached base map to support spatial searching. The cached base maps can also be moved to a different location (such as to a server behind a firewall).  

Caching a Base Map can also be important when rendering Thumbnail images from geometry, as it helps speed up the process.

Creating a New Cached Base Map

To create a new cached base map to use offline:

1. Go to Manage Voyager > Settings > Mapping

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2. Select Caching Base Map underAdd Map Service

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   • Enter a Name for the Cached Base Map

   • Enter the URL of the map service that you would like to use

   • To apply the WGS84 Coordinate System to your map cache, check WGS84

   • To set a maximum extent for the map, enter the Latitude and Longitude for the map and the zoom Levels for the map service (leave Levels blank to use the full map extent)

3. Click Save

4. Click the Edit icon next to your new cache base map

5. Click Manage Cache

6. You can Queue individual map levels
   
   

   • The Map option lets you pick the base map you'd like to cache (when multiple base maps exist)

   • The Threads option lets you increase the thread count i.e. the number of map service instances (the default is 2 - increase this to download tiles faster)

   • Click Cache to start downloading map tiles

   • To stop the process at any tile level, click Stop 

   • Queue individual map levels using the Queue link next to each respective level

7. Once caching is complete, refresh the main Voyager page to see your map

8. You can access the downloaded map cache from the Voyager maps folder (default directory is <VoyagerInstallDir>\data\maps)

Moving Cached Base Maps to a Different Location

You can move the entire maps directory or a specific map cache to a different location. This is useful should you need to move the map cache to a drive with more storage space, or to redeploy an existing map cache to a Voyager instance on a different operating system.

1. Copy or move the cached map folder to a the new location.  The default location for downloaded map tiles is <VoyagerInstallDir>\data\maps. 

2. The configuration settings for the Voyager mapping page are stored in the file Maps.dex, located in <VoyagerInstallDir>\data\config\maps.dex. Copy this file from the existing Voyager server to the new Voyager server. If maps.dex is missing or corrupted, simply re-run the steps to cache the base map.  Voyager will recognize the existing map cache instead of downloading the map tiles again.